Leo Komarov opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs with a shorthanded goal at 2:52 of the first period. Komarov’s goal is the first shorthanded goal scored by the Maple Leafs in 2017-18.

Mitch Marner had Toronto’s second goal of the game at 5:33 of the first period on the power play before adding the secondary assist on van Riemsdyk’s first period goal, the primary assist on Bozak’s first period goal and the secondary assist on Marleau’s third period goal. Marner’s four points establish a new career high for points in a game.

James van Riemsdyk had the secondary assist on Marner’s first period goal and later scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the game at 10:34 of the first period on the power play before adding the primary assist on Carrick’s third period goal. He leads the Maple Leafs in power play goals with (6) and power play points (12). Tonight’s game ties van Riemsdyk’s season-high for points in a game (3).

Tyler Bozak registered the primary assist on van Riemsdyk’s first period goal and later recorded the fourth Maple Leafs goal of the game at 13:28 of the first period, the primary assist on Marleau’s third period goal and the secondary assist on Carrick’s third period goal. Bozak’s four points tie his career-high for points in a game.

Patrick Marleau scored Toronto’s fifth goal of the night at 9:25 of the third period. The Maple Leafs are 10-1-0 when Marleau scores this season.

Kasperi Kapanen recorded the sixth Toronto goal of the night at 9:31 of the third period. Kapanen has goals (2) in two consecutive games.

Toronto’s third period goals from Patrick Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen came 0:06 apart, which are the fastest consecutive goals scored by the club this season. (Previous: 0:19 – Dec. 9 at Pittsburgh)

William Nylander notched the seventh Maple Leafs goal of the game at 14:05 of the third period. Toronto is 5-1-0 when Nylander scores this season.

Connor Carrick scored the eighth Maple Leafs goal of the night at 18:33 of the third period. Carrick’s goal is his second of the season.

Ron Hainsey had the primary assist on Komarov’s first period goal. Hainsey is tied for second among Maple Leafs defencemen in scoring with 15 points (2-13-15).

Zach Hyman picked up the secondary assist on Komarov’s shorthanded goal. Hyman led the Maple Leafs with four shorthanded goals in 2016-17.

Morgan Rielly recorded the primary assist on Marner’s first period goal. Rielly is tied for 10th among NHL defencemen in scoring with 22 points (4-18-22).

Frederik Andersen stopped 32 shots to earn the victory. Andersen’s win is his 18th of the season, which places him in a tie for third-most wins in the NHL.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs outshot the Hurricanes by a 36-33 margin in all situations. Carolina had a 29-27 edge in shots at 5-on-5.

Carolina had a 72-60 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 63-46 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5

Mitch Marner had a team-high six shots on goal.

Connor Carrick led the Maple Leafs with nine shot attempts.

SHOTS ON GOAL

1st

2nd

3rd

OT

TOTAL

CAROLINA

13

12

8

–

33

TORONTO

14

11

11

–

36

SHOT ATTEMPTS

1st

2nd

3rd

OT

TOTAL

CAROLINA

27

24

21

–

72

TORONTO

24

14

22

–

60

HOME SWEET HOME

The Maple Leafs are 11-5-0 at home this season.

Toronto’s all-time record is 45-56-11-7 in 119 games against the Hurricanes franchise and 22-30-6-2 in games played in Toronto.

Toronto is 11-7-1 against the Eastern Conference this season and 6-5-0 against the Metropolitan Division.

The Maple Leafs are 6-1-0 in the first leg of back-to-backs.

Today’s attendance was 19,288.

The Maple Leafs return to action tomorrow (Tues., Dec. 20) when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

Faceoff Wins

7 (Kadri)

Faceoff Win Percentage

100% (Martin – 1 won, 0 lost)

Hits

3 (Polak)

Blocked Shots

6 (Hainsey)

Takeaways

1 (Seven players tied)

TOI

21:55 (Hainsey)

Power Play TOI

2:56 (Bozak, Marner, van Riemsdyk)

Shorthanded TOI

7:19 (Hainsey)

Shifts

33 (Gardiner)

5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage

60.6% (Borgman – 20 for, 13 against)

RECORD WHEN…

The Maple Leafs were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 3-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 13-5-1 when not allowing a power play goal this season and 4-1-0 when scoring multiple power play goals.

Toronto is 17-5-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.

The Maple Leafs are 11-3-0 when leading after one period and 13-1-0 when leading after two periods.

Toronto has a 4-5-1 record when outshooting their opponent.

The Maple Leafs are 3-1-0 in Tuesday games.

OF NOTE…

The Maple Leafs’ four goals in the first and third periods marked the fifth and sixth times this season the team has scored four or more in a period.

Toronto’s eight goals are the second time this season the club has scored eight goals (Oct. 7 vs. New York Rangers).

The Maple Leafs scored an even-strength, power play and shorthanded goal in the first period of tonight’s game. Per Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Maple Leafs scored a goal at each strength in one period was Jan. 6, 2017 at New Jersey (4-2 W).

James van Riemsdyk’s first period goal was the 20,000th goal in Maple Leafs history.

It was good. I thought Mitch [Marner] was really going. It was a good night for the guys. Leo scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Mitch scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Willy [Nylander] scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Carrick scored, he hasn’t scored in forever. Who else? Kapanen scored, he hasn’t been in the League. That part was obviously good for our team. I thought they were all over us right at the start and we had good goaltending. Then obviously we got going and scored some timely goals.

On goals as a source of confidence for players who hadn’t scored recently:

For sure. You can just tell by the energy that goes in their body. If you’re a goal scorer and you haven’t scored in a long time, it starts weighing on you. I don’t care what anyone says, you’re a young person, you can’t help it, you’ve got to look at [their phones]. You get used to getting beat on.

On van Riemsdyk’s consistency:

He’s just got real good hands at the net, that’s what he does. He goes to the net, he’s got real good hands, the better the other guys are playing, the more the puck gets there and the more he scores.

On if they follow a scouting report to beat Darling:

We have a scouting report on every goalie but you’d think we didn’t have one for the last month. I don’t think that’s – sometimes the puck goes in, that’s just the way it is. Sometimes it doesn’t. We’ve played lots of good games where we didn’t score at all and we’ve played games that we weren’t very good and weren’t ready to go and we score. Who knows why but over a period of time it usually evens out.

On the pre-game ceremony adding extra energy:

I don’t know the answer to that. I heard lots of shots coming off the ice, ‘Mitch you were really good in the first, you’ve got your classmates here, you’re trying to impress them… First time we’ve played a game that wasn’t after your bed time,’ and all that stuff. I heard lots of stuff, I don’t know what it is.

On if he anticipated this type of game from Marner at some point:

No, not necessarily. He’s a good, good player and you keep telling him that if he works hard and he gets on the inside and wins battles that – when you’re playing good, you want the puck all the time. When you’re not playing good, you don’t go get it, you’re watching, you’re thinking too much and your feet don’t move – your brain does, but your feet don’t. Obviously, as soon as he got going there he had adrenaline. I thought Willy was the same. Willy, I don’t know how many shots he missed the net, he hit once I know because he scored, but he had lots of opportunity.

On Polak playing more minutes in Zaitsev’s absence:

Polie is always good, he’s just a good pro. He’s just not – how can I say this right? – he’s not fun for some people to watch, but he’s great for the coach to watch.

On Carrick:

On the offensive blue line, [Carrick] does real good things and he did tonight.

On if Matthews will travel to Columbus:

Yeah.

On if McElhinney will start tomorrow:

Yeah.

TYLER BOZAK (1 GOAL, 3 ASSISTS)

On the game being more wide open than expected:

I think we both got away from our games a bit in the second. It was fun. I think obviously it turned out well for us so, personally, the day game was awesome. I wish we had more of those.

On the number of kids in the stands and involved in the ceremony:

It was awesome. I think now having a kid of my own, I know how important it is to be role models and stuff like that. To be able to put a smile on their faces and have them all cheering for us, it was a pretty cool atmosphere and a fun game to be a part of.

On playing in the afternoon:

I loved it. I wish we played more afternoon games. It’s just nice – you wake up, you eat and you just go to the rink and play. I think it would be like if you were fully prepared for something and had to wait a whole day to do it, it’s nice to just wake up and have at it. For me, personally, I thought it was awesome. I wish we had some more day games.

MITCH MARNER (1 GOAL, 3 ASSISTS)

On setting a career-high for points during the 100th birthday of his hometown team:

It’s definitely exciting. It was a good game for our team, I thought. I think in the second we got a little bit away from what we wanted to be, but it’s a great win for us, especially going into tomorrow.

On what he did well today:

I just felt like I was skating. It felt like our whole line was skating in general. We were creating chances for each other and I think we were getting above the puck a lot, especially when we went and the other team got it. If we want to be successful, that’s what we have to do.

On what it would have been like to be one of the kids in the pre-game ceremony:

It would have been a lot of fun. The whole ceremony was awesome. I don’t think we were expecting all those kids to come out on the ice like that, but it’s great. It’s a lot of fun for them and a lot of fun for us as well. The whole atmosphere today was a lot of fun to play in front of. I’m glad we gave them a good game to watch.

JAMES van RIEMSDYK (1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS)

On scoring the 20,00th goal in team history on the team’s 100th birthday:

It worked out perfectly I guess with today and all the stuff for it. What better time for it.

On getting the win:

I think the little dip we were on, we weren’t finding ways to get points in the standings. Today we came out and started the game the way we wanted to and kept going from there.

On the success of the power play today:

With our unit, we’ve pretty much been the same for the past two years now. It gives you that chemistry, it gives you that confidence in each other in knowing where the other guy is going to be – reliability – knowing where the other guy wants you to be and different things like where to put the puck and stuff like that. I think all five of us can interchange at times and play some different spots too. I think that helps us be unpredictable out there.

On how to carry momentum from this game forward:

That’s always the magic question. It’s obviously a long season. You play 82 games and you try to get as many good ones in there as you can so when it’s going good you try to keep staying at it, keep working and ride it out.